George Wendt

George Robert Wendt Jr. (October 17, 1948 – May 20, 2025) was an American actor. Wendt was best known for playing Norm Peterson on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' from 1982 to 1993, which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. After ''Cheers'' ended, he starred in his own short-lived CBS sitcom, '' The George Wendt Show'' (1995).

Wendt also appeared in the comedy films '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982), '' No Small Affair'' (1984), '' Fletch'' (1985), ''The Little Rascals'' (1994), '' Man of the House'' (1995), '' Spice World'' (1997), '' Outside Providence'' (1999), and '' Sandy Wexler'' (2017), and the dramas '' Somewhere in Time'' (1980), '' Dreamscape'' (1984), '' Guilty by Suspicion'' (1991), '' Forever Young'' (1992), '' Lakeboat'' (2000), and '' The Climb'' (2019).

On television, Wendt had supporting and recurring roles on the series '' Making the Grade'', ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', and '' Fancy Nancy''. He had guest roles on ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Columbo'', ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Frasier'', ''The Simpsons'', ''Family Guy'', and '' Portlandia''. On stage, he appeared on Broadway playing Edna Turnblad in the musical comedy ''Hairspray'' in 2008.

Early life and education

George Robert Wendt Jr. was born in the Beverly neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Loretta Mary (née Howard) and George Robert Wendt Sr., an officer in the U.S. Navy and a realtor. He was one of nine children, with six sisters—Kathryn, Loretta, Marti, Nancy, Karen, and Mary Ann—as well as two brothers, Tom and Paul. Their maternal grandfather was photographer Tom Howard. Wendt was of Irish and one quarter German descent. George Sr.'s side of the family was from Danzig while Loretta's relatives were from County Mayo. All four grandparents were born in Cook County, Illinois. Wendt was an uncle of actor and former ''Saturday Night Live'' writer and cast member Jason Sudeikis, his sister Kathryn's son.

Wendt graduated from Campion High School, a Jesuit boarding school in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Notre Dame until he was expelled after receiving a 0.00 GPA during the first semester of his junior year. Wendt recalled in 2016 "I basically quit and didn't inform the university. I'd moved off campus my junior year, and I didn't think it through. I didn't have a car. It was cold. I never went to class." He later attended the Jesuit-affiliated Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, and graduated in 1971 with a B.A. in economics.

Career

1975–1981: Second City and early roles

Wendt was a 1975 alumnus of The Second City, which he discovered shortly after college. A viewing had inspired him to join and on his first day of employment, he showed up promptly at 11:30 a.m. as he was instructed. The woman working there handed him a broom and said "Welcome to the theater, kid"; thus, his first job in show business was sweeping the floors. Second City, located in Chicago, was also where he met his future wife, Bernadette Birkett, who played Cliff's Halloween date in the third season of ''Cheers'' and later in the series played the voice of Norm's never-seen wife, Vera."The 25 Best TV Characters You Never See On Screen"
''NME'', June 14, 2016.

Wendt appeared in the 1980 films '' My Bodyguard'' and '' Somewhere In Time'', and had small roles in the TV series ''Taxi'', ''Soap'', and ''M*A*S*H''. In 1982, Wendt landed his first role as a series regular on the CBS sitcom '' Making the Grade'', which was created by Gary David Goldberg. The series was canceled after six episodes in the spring of that year.

1982–1993: Breakthrough with ''Cheers''

From 1982 to 1993, Wendt appeared as Norm Peterson in all 275 episodes of ''Cheers''. For his work on ''Cheers'', Wendt earned six Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He also played the role in the short-lived spin-off '' The Tortellis'', in an episode of '' Wings'', and in an episode of another ''Cheers'' spin-off, ''Frasier''. Wendt, playing the character Norm, made a prominent entrance to the Cheers bar in nearly every episode, being greeted by a cheer of "Norm!" and making a wisecrack as he walked to his barstool. This regular bit of business was a highlight of the show. Disparaging references to the character's wife, Vera, and the wretched state of his life were other running gags. Host International licensed the characters of Norm and Cliff to create animatronic robot likenesses in their airport bars. The actors sued for infringement of their publicity rights in ''Wendt v. Host International''. The case was initially dismissed as the likeness to the actors was not strong but this was reversed on appeal.

Wendt's first appearance on ''Saturday Night Live'' was in a season 11 (1985–1986) episode where he shared hosting duties with director Francis Ford Coppola. His film appearances during this time included '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982), '' Dreamscape'' (1984), '' No Small Affair'' (1984), '' Fletch'' (1985), ''House'' (1985), and '' Gung Ho'' (1986). In 1988, he played the part of "Witten" in the New Zealand-made film, '' Never Say Die''. In the early 1990s, Wendt made cameo appearances on several episodes of ''SNL'' as Bob Swerski, one of the Chicago Superfans (along with cast members Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Robert Smigel, and one-time host Joe Mantegna). In 1989, Wendt appeared as the eponymous protagonist in a BBC TV dramatization of Ivan Goncharov's novel '' Oblomov''. He also appeared twice on the original British edition of ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' In 1991, Wendt played the father in Michael Jackson's music video "Black or White". He had roles opposite Robert De Niro in 1991's '' Guilty by Suspicion'' and with Mel Gibson in 1992's '' Forever Young''.

1994–1999: Post-''Cheers''

Following his success on ''Cheers'', Wendt starred in the short-lived '' The George Wendt Show'', which featured him as a garage mechanic with a radio show, based on the NPR radio show '' Car Talk''. ''The George Wendt Show'' aired from March through April 1995. Wendt also appeared on ''The Larry Sanders Show'' as a guest on the show. Wendt starred as the killer in one of the last episodes of the TV series ''Columbo'', portraying a thoroughbred horse owner in the 1995 episode '' Strange Bedfellows''. Wendt appeared as himself on ''Seinfeld'' and reprised the character Norm Peterson on ''The Simpsons'' episode "Fear of Flying", two episodes of ''Family Guy'', "Road to Rupert" and "Three Kings", and the ''Frasier'' episode "Cheerful Goodbyes". In the same year as his ''Frasier'' guest appearance, Wendt played the bartender to Ted Danson's character in ''Becker'' (the inverse of their relationship on ''Cheers''). In 1994, he played the Lumber store guy in the film ''The Little Rascals''. In 1995, he appeared in the film '' Man of the House'' as Chet Bronski, the stepfather of Norman (Zachary Browne), starring with Chevy Chase, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and Farrah Fawcett. He also portrayed Martin Barnfield in the Spice Girls' movie '' Spice World'' (1997), and played the role of Old Man Dunphy's closeted homosexual friend Joey in the 1999 film '' Outside Providence''.

In early 1997, Wendt joined the cast of the NBC sitcom '' The Naked Truth'' as Les Polonsky, the new owner of the celebrity tabloid where the series' main characters worked. Wendt's role only lasted 13 episodes as ''The Naked Truth'' underwent further creative changes for its next season. In 1998, Wendt was one of the three characters in a London West End production of '' 'Art''' with David Dukes and Stacy Keach. He would later join the Broadway production of the play, starring alongside Judd Hirsch and Joe Morton.

2000–2024: Broadway roles and other work

In 2000, he played First Mate Collins in the film '' Lakeboat''. In 2003, Wendt appeared as a celebrity fisherman in the music video for Cobra Verde's "Riot Industry" along with Rudy Ray Moore

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases